Synthetic playing surfaces increase the incidence of match injuries in an elite Rugby Union team

Objectives: To examine differences in match injury incidence between three playing surfaces in elite Rugby Union. Design: Prospective cohort. Methods: Match injury incidence was assessed in 89 elite Rugby Union players over two-seasons of professional competition (44 matches, 1014 h player exposure). Match injury incidence was assessed on three different playing surfaces; natural grass, hybrid (natural grass combined with approximately 3% synthetic fibres) and fully synthetic (sand and rubber infill). Overall injury incidence, contact and non-contact injury incidence, and the incidence of minor (<_7 d lost) and major (>= 8 d lost) injuries were considered using mixed effect models. Results: Overall match injury incidence doubled on hybrid and synthetic surfaces compared to natural grass (hybrid: OR = 2.58 [95% CI 1.65-4.03], p < 0.001; synthetic: OR = 2.16 [95% CI 1.07-4.37], p = 0.033). Furthermore, the odds of sustaining a contact injury on a pitch containing any synthetic content also increased compared to natural grass (hybrid: OR = 2.31 [95% CI 1.41-3.78], p = 0.001; synthetic: OR = 2.19 [95% CI 1.00-4.77], p = 0.049). The hybrid surface elicited a four times greater likelihood of non-contact injury incidence compared to natural grass (OR = 4.18 [95% CI 1.16-15.04], p = 0.028). However, the playing surface did not affect the severity of match injuries (all p > 0.05). Conclusions: The present study suggests that even a small percentage (3%) of synthetic content in the playing surface significantly increases match injury incidence, with an effect seen on both contact and non-contact injury incidence. These findings are important to enable practitioners to be aware of the injury implications of playing matches on hybrid and synthetic pitches. (c) 2021 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study examines the differences in match injury incidence among elite Rugby Union players on different playing surfaces. The results show that both hybrid and synthetic surfaces have significantly higher match injury incidence compared to natural grass. The odds of sustaining a contact injury are also increased on pitches with synthetic content. However, the severity of match injuries is not affected by the playing surface.